Nasc in association with Brightening Air/Coiscéim Coiligh presents Lasta: A National Arts Programme by Young People for Young People.
glór with the Nasc network of venues is delighted to present Lasta: A national arts programme for young people by young people. Presented as part of Brightening Air | Coiscéim Coiligh, a nationwide, ten day season of arts experiences brought to you by the Arts Council. To see the full Brightening Air | Coiscéim Coiligh programme, visit www.brighteningair.com
In a new innovative approach to programming, twenty-one young curators have been engaged by the Nasc venues to programme a festival of work for children and young people from 11th to 20th June 2021, delivering for the first time, a national arts programme curated entirely by young people.
Under the guidance of theatre artists Maisie Lee and Fionn Foley, these young people will work collaboratively to deliver an ambitious programme of work for young people across the country.
Featuring multiple disciplines and reflecting the diversity of modern Ireland, this pioneering project offers a unique opportunity to develop our future arts programmers and producers.
‘Lasta spans all the way from equality and inclusion to exciting experimental and maybe technological styles.’
This promises to be a fresh, fun, diverse, accessible and exciting festival of events.
Following an open call for young curators, glór has selected two curators to create and ambitious programme for Lasta. Douglas Reddan is a Movement Artist, Choreographer, and Director from Quin, Co. Clare and Mary Nagle is a classical musician and journalist from Corofin in Co. Clare who currently teaches flute, piano and violin at the Dublin School of Music.
The NASC Network Venues are Backstage Theatre (Longford), Dunamaise Arts Centre (Portlaoise), glór (Ennis), An Grianán (Letterkenny), The Lime Tree Theatre (Limerick), Pavilion Theatre (Dun Laoghaire), Siamsa Tíre (Tralee) and Town Hall Theatre (Galway).
Lasta is based on an original project conceived and delivered by Backstage Theatre, Longford in 2020.
The Young Curators will also engage with the young curator panels in partner venues, sharing ideas and information on programming opportunities and learning from experience from last year’s Young Curators Festival at the Backstage Theatre in Longford.
Mary Nagle
Mary Nagle is from Corofin, Co. Clare. She trained in classical music, graduating from the CIT Cork School of Music in 2017. While living in Cork city she was a regular at the weekly poetry night, Ó Bhéal, reading at the open mic and acting as one of the event’s MCs. She was published in an Ó Bhéal Five Words Anthology and last year filmed and wrote a multimedia piece about the event. Mary was part of the support team for the Cork International Poetry Festival in 2018. (Also in Cork, she played cello and flute in a punk-folk-rock nine-piece all-originals band.)
She worked as programme co-ordinator for the West Cork Chamber Music Festival (2018, 2019). At the West Cork Literary Festival, she took part in writing workshops taught by Vona Groarke (2018) and Sinead Gleeson (2019). Mary then moved to London to study journalism. She wrote articles about a wide range of topics including the rise of e-scooters, a divorce fair, festivals, and prisons in the pandemic. She moved back to Clare when the pandemic hit and most recently had an interview with Mick Flannery published in the new online magazine ‘The Momentist’.
She spent an Erasmus year in Venice studying flute at the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello, where she picked up some Italian.
Mary currently teaches flute, piano and violin at the Dublin School of Music.
Douglas Reddan (He/Him).
Doug Reddan is a Movement Artist, Choreographer, & Director from a little village in Co. Clare called Quin. Doug is a coffee addict, connection craver, curious filmmaker, a proud Clare man, proud Libra and a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community.
For the past five years Doug has been working, training & developing his artistry in Dublin, while also completing a Bsc in Retail & Services Management in Technology University Dublin. Fly Dance Company has been his home away from home and where a lot of his movement base developed. Doug is fascinated by extremes, the emotional body and using movement as a Holistic practice. Interdisciplinary Art forms is where he find myself dabbling in and exploring most, with a passion for the Dance & Film Intersect.
Outside of the arts, Doug enjoys all and any grounding activities that involve any elements of ‘living life to the fullest.’ Swimming in the sea, family time, sunsets, road tripping, cooking, walking, a good cup of tea with a friend, singsongs. Etc, etc. You know those things that just fill your soul with joy!
I like to say that I am consciously MOVING through life …Literally. Producing emotive and meaningful art through honesty, empathy and heart. And just laughing a lot along the way.